Memory Work Monday

Miss MOE at the WTM Forum asked people to blog about their Memory Work.  Since we do a lot of Memory work (you may have seen that in our Weekly Reports), I said I’d participate.

On Monday through Wednesday, we work on our Memory Work.  Memory Work is done during Circle Time, first thing each morning.  We generally use the “brute force” method where I say it, the children repeat it, we sing over and over, etc.  I have, so far, kept the words all to myself and we have worked on oral learning during this time.  We do this because I’m not an auditory learner, generally I need to write or see the words to learn something.  I want to mix up the teaching methods so the children are learning, and are able to learn, in many different ways.  For hymns, we try to discuss what the different verses, and sections of verses, mean.

On Saturday, we spend an hour or so doing Recitation for Daddy.  This accomplishes several goals, and I’ve blogged about it before, but allow me to sum up.

1. First, it makes Daddy an integral part of our schooling.  They get to show off for him.  He gets to encourage and know what we’ve been working on.
2. Second, we work on public speaking skills.  Yes, it is only our little family, but the children must stand with good posture, hands in front or behind, and speak clearly.  They’ve started to get out pads from  the Hullabaloo game to stand on; they think that is fun.  M-girl, in particular, doesn’t like the speaking in front of others, so we want to practice now.
3. Third, it gives me the chance to assess.  I can look at what they should know and what they don’t know.  It helps me to know if we’re moving on in Poetry or Catechism.
4. Fourth, it gives us incentive to work hard during the week.  We want to show off for Daddy and do our best.  I can say, “Don’t forget we’ll be reciting for Daddy on Saturday.” and it will give us a second wind to keep working. 

I arrange our Memory Work a la Simply Charlotte Mason’s Memory System.  This is designed to be a Bible Memory system, but so far it has worked well for all our work.  I don’t use cards in a file, though.  I put them in a binder similar to the Mnemosyne binder that one of the ladies in the WTM Forum put together, although not exactly like hers either.

Last year, I posted about how I organized Memory Work. I’ve made minor changes;  I now use two binders.  The first one is “When” and the second is “What.”  The When Binder has lists behind tabs for Hymns, Bible, Catechism, Poetry.  A column for each child, then I can move things back through the tabs for Daily, Odd Dates/Even Dates, Weekly, or Monthly.  The second binder has all the stuff.  Bible Verses, Catechism, Creeds, (not hymns, I mark those with tabs in the Hymnal), lists for history, geography, science, skip counting, seasonal items, and Poetry.  I’ve put a lot of these pages into sheet protectors.  On Saturday after recitation, I try to go through the “When” folder and make a chart for the week that shows who is to do what … and what I’m going to read.  Then during Circle Time, all I need is one page, the “What” Binder, Hymnal, and Read Aloud books.

I didn’t get my chart done Saturday, and I was feeling kinda yucky today and we didn’t do school. So I filled it out today and you can see my chart:

Circle Time Week 11

Here’s a list of what we’re working on right now for Circle Time:

• Gloria Patri
• Psalm 130 (ESV)
• Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted
• Catechism for Young Children
• IEW’s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization
• Skip Counting by “Evens”
• History Sentences from Hannah’s HS Helps
• Living Memory‘s Plant lists
• Geography Songs (working on States of America right now)

We also have memory work in Grammar and Latin.